"Japan: In the midst of black markets and inflationary prices, life for the average Japanese is grim and barren. Rebuilding homes and harvesting meagre crops keep some healthy and housed, but many have to tighten their belts." scenes of life in Japan, poverty, gardens planted, black market. (partial newsreel)
Interesting comparison to the reports from Iraq under Bremer in the first year. The last Japanese "insurgent" surrendered in the mid 60's. Took us nearly
...
10 years to rebuild the country and we still have troops there.
Reviewer:
Wilford B. Wolf
-
favoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
June 21, 2005 Subject:
The black market still flourishes
Newsreel clip covering the state of Japan as the American occupation after World War II was fully underway. The footage covers the devistation the Japanese
...
faced immediate after the war. It appears that most of the footage was shot in and around Shinjuku in Tokyo, now the busiest railroad station in the world, and the site after World War II of one of the most notorious black markets. The clip does mention how many Japanese city dwellers had to resort to either building shelters from the rubble or going to the countryside where food was mariginally more plentiful. Interestingly, yet not wholy surprising, the wartime epitaph of "Jap" is still used here, though the animalizing rhetoric is greatly reduced now that the US is in control. This clip does suffer from some jutter and there is some video noise evident from the clip.